You Are Going To Die
by generalquistis
Summary: What if Sephiroth and Rufus were allies? They make deals with one another... and then comes a deal that changes everything including Rufus's goals. Please Read & Review!
1. 1

You Are Going To Die

By: General Quistis

Author's Note: Uhm… I don't really know whether this is a PG-13 or an R… but to be safe because of some nudity at some part, I just rated it R. Heheh. =_=' *confused* 

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            Something is wrong, he knows.

He kept on walking alone among the crowd, his fists clenched tightly and ready to hit anyone who would dare touch him. He hated the crowd. He hated the people. He hated everyone. Thanks to his father.

He did not want to have any close contacts with people… unfortunately, he's in a crowd.

He kept on brushing his shoulders and arms with his hands as if dusting away the germs. "Well good thing I am not wearing my white jacket." He thought silently as he quickened his pace.

He regretted going to that place.

The Gold Saucer.

Because it was too crowded at one part… unfortunately, that was where he entered. 

Before he got there, he was with his other "minions" taking a break. However, hanging around them made him feel annoyed and out-of-place. First of all, they were all older than him. Second, he kept hearing the "gyahahahaha" and the "kyahahahaha" laughter dominating the lounge music playing in the background. Third, the smell of office coffee was beginning to sicken him. Fourth, he's supposed to meet someone…

Someone…

So he just decided to excuse himself and went to his own room. He took a quick bath, got dressed in his usual clothes, but this time, minus the jackets. As he faced the mirror, he just raked his fingers through his hair, not caring to use gel to brush it back so that he would not look messy. "You're one heck of a handsome guy, ShinRa," he muttered to himself with a vain expression on his face.

And left without asking permission. 

He went through the back door and just walked going to the Gold Saucer.

He kept on walking until he bumped against a couple that came out from nowhere that he did not really notice. "Oh!" the girl cried out in surprise.

The guy jerked up slightly.

Rufus turned to them and gave them a cold glare. "Watch where you're going," he sneered before he proceeded away from them… but just when he was already far from them, he stopped in his tracks and looked back at them, realizing that he knew who the guy and the girl were… "I've seen them before…Cloud Strife," he thought silently before shrugging off the thought. "And the flower girl." He muttered lightly before proceeding towards the other direction, but eventually bumped against another person again.

"Hey, watch it, ya foo'!"

Rufus twitched because droplets of the big man's saliva went to his face. Rufus wiped off the saliva from his face but did not say anything. He just glared coldly at the man before proceeding to walk. "What the hell is AVALANCHE doing here anyway?" he thought silently, able to recognize the big man.

"Excuse me,"

Rufus ignored the plea.

"Excuse me,"

Ignore.

"Sir,"

"What?" he demanded with an angry glare as he sharply turned around to face the young lady who was stubborn enough to follow him and talk to him. His angry glare faded slightly upon seeing the surprised look on her face.

She stared up at him for a few seconds with a look of awe on her face before she spoke up, "Uhm… sorry for bothering you… but… do you have change for 500 Gil?"

He stared at her for a while, eyeing her from head to toe before proceeding to get his wallet, handed her five 100 Gil bills, took the 500 Gil bill from her and placed it inside his wallet.

"Thank you so much, sir." She said rather sweetly, mindlessly taking his hands in hers and squeezing them gently.

He was quite stunned at her behavior, even as she let go of his hands and left him standing there alone. 

He had never seen such crimson eyes.

He snapped out of his trance when he heard the familiar voice from behind him, "Rufus?"

He turned around and saw the tall silver-haired man with green eyes. "Oh, you're here," he said flatly.

"Nice disguise," Sephiroth told him, referring to his hair and to his turtleneck.

"I'll take that as sarcasm. Nice disguise too," Rufus said rather sarcastically, staring at Sephiroth's hat, red cape and his hair tied into a loose ponytail.

"Very funny. So, what have you been up to in this place?" Sephiroth asked as he slapped Rufus's back and led the way for a walk.

Rufus followed after him. "Waiting for you." He said.

"Who's the girl?" Sephiroth asked.

"I don't know her." Rufus muttered.

"You know her," Sephiroth said.

"She's from AVALANCHE." Rufus said.

"You see?" Sephiroth convinced.

"Anyway, about the deal…" Rufus began, wanting to change the subject.

They stopped walking when they reached a secluded area. "Oh yeah." Sephiroth said.

"How much do I owe you?" Rufus asked.

"What do you mean?" Sephiroth asked.

"We're supposed to be working together, right? You help me, I help you. You helped me by killing my father just as we had talked about before. I thought I'd pay you a good deal of money." Rufus mentioned.

Sephiroth laughed. "Never mind. Money isn't important to me anyway. As long as you continue to follow me so that Cloud and his posse will follow you and you will eventually lead them to me." He told him reassuringly. "What do you think? Is that fair enough?" he continued.

Rufus frowned slightly. "Hmm… I lead those asses to you and what do I get in return?" he asked probingly.

Sephiroth thought for a while before replying, "You already got your wish. I killed your daddy." He said with a mocking tone.

Rufus turned to him. "You give me the girl." He said with a sly smile on his face.

Sephiroth's eyes widened as he stared unbelievably at Rufus. "What?" he asked.

"The girl. I want the girl. I lead them to you, you her to me." He said slyly before flipping his hair.

Sephiroth chuckled lightly. "Hmm… which girl? Aerith? Yuffie? Tifa? Vincent?"

"Vincent?" Rufus asked unbelievably, eyeing Sephiroth ridiculously.

"I was only kidding… anyway, which girl? Aerith, Yuffie or Tifa?" he asked with a serious look on his face.

Rufus thought for a while and looked away from him. "I don't really know which is which." He muttered.

Sephiroth leaned back against the electric post and crossed his arms before staring into the dark area that leads to a forest. "Hmm… Aerith is the one in pink. She's the Cetra." He said.

"Oh yeah… now I remember." Rufus said blankly.

"Yuffie is that ninja girl who's so noisy and she keeps on stealing material…"

"Is she the one with short hair?" Rufus asked.

"Yeah. Short too." Sephiroth explained.

Rufus tried to imagine everyone from AVALANCHE. He smiled slightly. "What about Tifa?" he asked.

"Big boobs. That's the girl you were talking to moments ago." Sephiroth replied casually.

He flipped his hair and turned to Sephiroth. "She's the one I want." He admitted.

"Tifa?" Sephiroth asked unbelievably.

"Any problem with that?" Rufus asked.

Sephiroth laughed at him. "I've known that girl before. Don't tell me you're one of those guys lusting over her?" he asked mockingly.

Rufus just ignored the remark, after all, it was not true for him. There was something else about Tifa that he could not even forget. Something that he could not even understand. 

"She can kick some ass. You should see her fight… even the toughest of the guys from the slums cannot compare to her _brutal strength. Mwahahaha. She can be an Amazon with that kind of ability. Comparing her to the timid Aerith and the ninja girl, she's the best among them if you're looking for battle." Sephiroth explained._

Rufus was just quiet, reflecting on things that Sephiroth was saying. "You said you've known her. When was it?" he asked.

"She was just 15 back then… that was five years ago. She's as old as you are… 20." Sephiroth replied.

"What did you do to her?" Rufus asked.

Sephiroth laughed nastily at the question. Rufus eyed him cautiously with a cold glare. He stopped laughing and just decided to smirk proudly at Rufus. "Oh you know… she was a naughty girl, so I just had to teach her a little lesson by letting her taste the blade of my Masamune." He said.

Rufus just stared blankly at him, "In lay man's terms?" he asked, wanting Sephiroth to elaborate and stop using figures of speech.

"Slashed her. You might see a scar from her chest down to her abdomen if you undress her." He replied rather casually.

Rufus's eyes somewhat widened at what he said. Sephiroth laughed at him, "Aw, c'mon, Rufus, you think I saw her naked already? Get a life! I _hate_ that bitch. I just think that the force I used on her was powerful enough to leave a scar on her. But mind me, I think that wound took some time to heal." He explained.

"She's yours." Sephiroth muttered.

"You sound frustrated." Rufus pointed out.

"Not really... but one wrong move of AVALANCHE against me and then I accidentally kill her this time, it's not my fault." Sephiroth said.

Rufus frowned at him. "You shall not harm her," he commanded.

"Right. So the Promised Land is mine," Sephiroth said.

Rufus just turned away. "This guy is really insane…" he thought silently. "I didn't say anything like that, but anyway, I'll lead AVALANCHE to you, you give Tifa to me and I'll give up the Promised Land so that it'll be yours." He told him.

Sephiroth laughed victoriously. "Hah! I knew it'd be nice doing business with you, ShinRa, and my oh my, how come you're giving up everything just for the girl? That is so unlikely of you, ShinRa." he said, slapping Rufus's back again.

"Watch it, Sephiroth. And don't call me _ShinRa_. Reminds me of Old Man." Rufus muttered as he dusted himself again.

They were just quiet for a few seconds.

"What are you going to do to Tifa Lockheart?" Sephiroth interrupted.

Rufus did not answer.

"Bed her and leave her?" Sephiroth suggested.

"You're sick." Rufus muttered.

Sephiroth just laughed at him. "Well, I'd better go now." He said before patting Rufus's shoulder and then walked away from him.

Rufus waited for a few more moments before he finally decided to go back to the crowded area, buy some strawberry shake and then head back to where his executives are.

He just kept on walking until he saw Cloud Strife again with Aerith. He had his arm wrapped around her shoulder as he gazed down at her lovingly. She was holding a playbill and reading it out loud to him.

Rufus somewhat felt envious, and he felt so lonely. He was suddenly surprised that a few feet away from Cloud and Aerith, Tifa was walking with Yuffie, her arms crossed. Yuffie kept on jumping up and down happily. "Whee! That was a nice play, don't you think so, Teef? Huh? Huh? Huh?" she asked happily.

"It was wonderful," Tifa said rather plainly with a cheerful smile on her face, but Rufus could see through her mask: she was annoyed.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! Let's get shakes!" Yuffie said, pulling Tifa's hand and led her to the direction where Rufus is.

"Slow down! I might trip!" Tifa said while laughing slightly at the fact that she's really allowing the ninja girl to drag her to the food booths.

Rufus turned away and just went ahead, going to the shakes. "Strawberry shake please," he said before pulling out 2 Gil.

He slightly turned to his side upon hearing a panting Tifa and a happy Yuffie. 

Yuffie spoke up, "Two strawberry shakes, please!"

"But I'm already full!" Tifa protested.

"Aw, c'mon! If you can't finish it, I'll drink it for you! Heeheehee!" Yuffie jumped up and down happily.

Rufus rolled his eyes.

Tifa looked up at the man standing beside her and she smiled rather brightly. "Oh, hello again," she greeted.

Yuffie stopped and examined the two.

Rufus switched his cold gaze to Tifa. "Oh… it's you," he said rather coldly.

Tifa still had this cheerful smile plastered upon her face before she just decided to turn away from the man. After all, he is a stranger.

"Who's he?" Yuffie asked curiously.

"Oh, he's the guy I was telling you about before the play began." Tifa whispered softly, trying to stifle her giggle.

Yuffie snickered. "Looks like a rich kid to me! Wanna see his wallet?" she asked playfully.

"Yuffie?!" Tifa scolded.

"Wahahahahahaha! Gotcha there, didn't I? Heeheehee!" Yuffie jumped up and down excitedly.

Tifa rolled her eyes and gave her friend a playful push. "Oh shut up," she snapped playfully.

Watching her quietly, he decided to hang around a little longer in the Gold Saucer before he can go back to his executives. "If only to get rid of this friend of hers…" Rufus thought silently.

"Here are your shakes," the vendor placed three glasses on top of the counter.

Tifa was about to get 4 Gil but Rufus spoke up to her, "No, my treat," he told her. She was surprised at him. 

"Oh my…" Yuffie said out loud.

Rufus added 4 Gil to his own 2 and handed it to the vendor. 

"Th…thank you," Tifa said gratefully.

"Yeah, very seldom do we see guys like you around." Yuffie said rather teasingly.

Rufus flipped his hair before grabbing his shake. "Why? Don't your boyfriends do that to you?" he asked rather snottily.

"Excuse me?" Yuffie asked in disbelief.

Tifa had a perplexed look on her face. "N…no, I don't have a boyfriend." She said.

"He wasn't even asking if you have," Yuffie teased.

Tifa blushed and just smiled uneasily at the man. "I mean… oh never mind…" she stammered before she just decided to drink.

"OOOH! It's Cloud and Aerith!!!" Yuffie saw the two buying some food in the other stall far from them. "C'mon, Teef! Let's go and join them!" she said happily before running off to the two.

Tifa just stared blankly at the two and bowed down her head.

"Aren't you going to follow your friend?" Rufus asked with a low tone.

She shook her head. "Nah. They're on a date. Don't want to disturb them." She said before turning to him again. "So, what's your name?" she asked mindlessly, not knowing what else to say. Maybe she could hang out with him for a while and relieve some tension.

"Rufus." He replied.

"Rufus?" she asked, her eyes widening at the sound of the name.

"And you?" he asked casually.

She thought for a few moments. "I'm sure Rufus ShinRa wouldn't be in a place like this… but anyway…" she thought silently before replying with a cheerful smile on her face. "Tifa. Nice to meet you, Rufus,"

He smiled slightly at her.

"Wanna walk with me?" she asked.

"Where?" he asked.

"Just around here or anywhere without much people." She told him. "I want to sit down. My feet are killing me." she explained.

"Well, let's go," he told her before he led the way to the secluded area again where he had just spoken with Sephiroth.

There were benches in that place so they sat down immediately before someone else could hog the last bench.

She was just quiet, not knowing what to do or say to him. One part of her was screaming that she should leave already because her intuition was telling her that he is a dangerous man… but another part of her wanted to her just stay with him even for a while: the lonely part of her.

She listened to the latter.

She looked at Rufus's blank gaze at the stars, not knowing whether he was admiring them or simply staring at them and looking for constellations or something else.

He finished his strawberry shake before throwing it in the trash can beside the bench where they were seated. She also finished hers and threw it away.

Still, they were silent. But she easily noticed that he was strangely seated too close to her.

"_You want her, Rufus_,"

Rufus's eyes widened upon hearing the voice in his head. He began to gaze around the premises, searching for the person who spoke up through his head. He stopped upon staring at the dark area near the forest where he saw a pair of glowing green Mako eyes staring back at him rather slyly. "Sephiroth," he thought with a sneer as he narrowed his blue eyes at him.

"Anything wrong?" she asked, interrupting his thoughts.

Rufus instantly turned back to Tifa. "Nothing. I just… thought I saw something in the forest," he explained.

She smiled gently. "Oh… must be a forest creature… like a panther or something," she said.

"You're not afraid of those, are you?" he asked.

"I think they're cute as long as they don't bite you," she told him.

He smiled at her. "Yes. I agree with you. I had a pet panther once… but she died protecting me…" he said, his smile fading away as he went on.

She suddenly sympathized with him. "Oh, that's so sad… why? What happened?" she asked.

"Never mind." He told her blankly. "Cloud Strife killed her." He just thought silently before looking away from her.

They were surprised when they realized that it was beginning to drizzle. They both looked up at the skies and saw that the rain clouds had covered the stars and the moon rather quickly.

"Oh no… the hotel's far from here," she said out loud as she got up.

Rufus frowned slightly upon feeling the rain hitting his face. "Stay at my place first," he told her before he took her hand and led the way to the exit. "Is it near here?" she asked.

"Somewhat. We'll get there in no time." He assured her.

But the rain poured harder than expected. "Damn!" Rufus cursed angrily, realizing that he was already soaked to the skin and his white pants were already muddy. Disgusted and frustrated, he just decided to enter in the first hotel he saw.

"This is where you're staying?" she asked in awe, realizing that it was one of the most expensive hotels around the area.

"No. But we can't continue to my place because the rain's too strong. Besides, we're already wet and muddy… might as well take shelter here for a while until the rain stops." He told her.

She couldn't think clearly whether the idea is good or not, but she just followed him. He got themselves a room… a big suite on the last floor.

"Man, he must be a really rich guy… he even used a credit card for this…" she thought silently as they entered the room.

After he placed his wallet and his mobile phone on top of the coffee table by the window, he went to the bathroom, hogged it for almost 30 minutes because he took a bath and made sure that he was not dirty anymore, and got a bathrobe and wore it. He had this stiff look on his face as he raked his fingers through his wet blonde locks. Then, he remembered that Tifa was with him. He felt nervous. "I can't believe I have her here… what if I just…" he smiled slightly as he flipped his hair. "…claim her tonight?" he thought silently.

And his smile faded away the moment he got out of the bathroom, seeing Tifa seated on the floor wearing a loose white robe. She was facing the fireplace and she was staring at the fire with a tired and somewhat troubled look on her face. The sound of the bathroom door closing made her turn to it and saw Rufus standing there with his usual poker-faced expression. Her eyes suddenly widened upon gazing up at him, the fire illuminating his icy blue eyes. 

The first moment he saw her after he came from the bathroom, he saw that the color had returned to her cheeks after getting drenched and cold in the rain, but she turned pale again the moment she looked at him. "Is there anything wrong?" he asked her with a low tone.

She swallowed hard and moved slightly away from the fire. "You are Rufus ShinRa, aren't you?" she demanded with a trembling voice.

"Oh shit… how did she find out?" he thought as he continued to stare at her. "How did you know?" he asked casually.

"Your mobile phone. It was ringing. I looked at the caller I.D. and it said _Heidegger_. I answered it and he said _'Gyah! President Rufus, where are you?'_ …" she explained rather nervously.

They were silent for several seconds before Rufus started chuckling.

She was surprised at him. "Wh…what's so funny?" she asked.

"The way you imitated Heidegger's voice; you did it perfectly." He told her frankly before picking up his mobile phone and returned Heidegger's call. Tifa listened quietly, thinking of a plan to escape. "This could be a trap," she thought silently with a deep frown on her face. "Hmm… Rufus has no magic. He only has a shotgun… I can beat him easily." She thought silently, calculating all the possibilities she could do to kick his ass.

"I'm here… somewhere… stranded. Don't go here. It's raining hard. I'll be there tomorrow. Don't worry about me. Yes, I'm alone." He told Heidegger.

"Gyah! We're so worried about you, President Rufus! We thought AVALANCHE already kidnapped you and killed you! But how come the first time you answered, you did not even speak up and you hung up on me?" Heidegger told him from the other line.

Rufus parted the red drapes slightly so that he could look at the view outside. It was still raining. "You idiot! Didn't you even think that I was eating and when I eat I don't talk?" he snapped impatiently.

"Gyah… sorry sir." Heidegger apologized.

"Hmf. Whatever. Don't go bothering me and that goes to Scarlet and the others as well! I'll sleep now. I'll see you when the rain stops." Rufus hung up and switched off his mobile phone to avoid any more calls and SMS from his executives and Turks. He sighed heavily before turning to Tifa. She was still staring unbelievably at him.

"Yes, I am Rufus ShinRa. President of the ShinRa Electric Power Company. And you are Tifa Lockheart from AVALANCHE." He told her with a stiff tone.

She was quiet for several seconds before finally deciding to speak, "You're not going to hurt me, are you?" She hated herself for sounding a little pathetic.

"I don't hurt women if they do not deserve it." He told her before he walked to her and sat down closely beside her. She moved away from him.

"Hey, I took a bath already so don't treat me like scum by moving away from me," he told her rather stiffly.

She swallowed hard. "Punch him now… punch him now…" she commanded herself silently.

"You just came in from the rain. You should take a bath too or else you'll catch cold." He told her rather gently before he turned to face the fire so that he can also warm up.

She was surprised at his sudden concern. "Oh well, if I follow his advice, I won't get sick. If I get sick, the more I won't be able to escape here." She thought silently before she got up and went to the bathroom.

While she was there for around 10 minutes, he got up and went to the small bar just beside the fireplace. He began to rummage through the drinks there, looking for some wine to drink, when she came out of the bathroom still wearing the white robe. 

"Can't find wine here," he told her.

She smiled gently. "I can make you a drink to make you feel warm if you're still cold. I know how to," she said.

He turned to face her. "You?" he asked unbelievably.

She went over to him and inspected the bottled drinks, the glasses and all the other things needed to make a drink. "Of course. I once owned a bar in Sector 7." She told him rather proudly.

"Oh yeah… I heard from one of my Turks that you make the best drinks. I think it was Reno." Rufus replied.

"Reno? The redhead?" she asked.

"Yeah. The messy-looking one." He explained.

She laughed at what he said, but stopped herself upon realizing that she shouldn't be laughing and talking to Rufus like that. She just began to make the drink for Rufus.

He sat down a meter away from the fireplace, watching her as she worked. In less than three minutes, she was done and poured the contents into a wine goblet. She went over to Rufus with a pleased expression on her face. "Here you go!" she said rather cheerfully. Deep inside, she hoped that Rufus would like it so that he could praise her somehow for her talent. It could boost her confidence and her ego.

He sniffed it and he raised an eyebrow, staring at the crimson liquid before he took a sip. 

Tifa sat down beside him, watching him closely as he continued to drink it until half of the goblet was empty. He smiled at Tifa rather strangely and the expression in his eyes changed.

"Do you like it, President Rufus?" she asked. "Hmf… I put some strong stuff in there." She thought silently.

"I love it, Tifa. What did you put in this?" he asked her.

She giggled. "Oh I can't tell you, President Rufus. It's my secret ingredient." She told him with a wink.

"Why don't you try it?" he asked her, handling her the drink. "Damn you, you put something bad in here, didn't you?" he thought silently, noticing the happy glint in Tifa's eye.

Her smile faded away. "Uh… no thanks, I don't feel so cold anymore," she lied.

He flipped his hair and placed the goblet against her lips when she least expected it, tilted the goblet until the crimson liquid touched her lips. "Let's drink for the night, Tifa," he said rather sluggishly... and then used his other hand to forcefully open her mouth and forced her to drink the crimson liquid.

She struggled to move away from him but it was too late. She had swallowed everything.

"Now we're even, Tifa," he told her with a mean look on his face.

She suddenly felt dizzy. She couldn't stand up anymore. "Dammit!" she thought silently.

"Come here," he told her as he slowly got hold of her hand.

"N…no!" she told him, attempting to hit him, but his other hand grabbed her fist and before she could attempt another move, he dove onto her, pinning her down on the carpeted floor and then planted a long passionate kiss on her lips, which surprised her. 

She eased up, still able to taste the sweetness of the drink she made for him on his lips. His grip loosened from her hands as he continued to kiss her. "Go ahead, resist me," he whispered against her lips, as if teasing her.

She closed her eyes and just wrapped her arms around him, pulling him further down to her so that she could return his kisses. "P…President Rufus…" she whispered softly.

He smiled slightly against the kiss. "It's _Rufus." He reminded her._

She ran her fingers through his hair. "Rufus…" she repeated in a soft whisper. It was her first kiss… and it felt so perfect… but the person is…

She opened her eyes for a while and looked at Rufus's facial features. She even surprised herself when she found herself smiling lovingly at him as she caressed his cheek. "Damn it… I should've never offered to make him a drink…" she thought silently, scolding herself.

He stopped kissing her, and for some moments, he was just staring at her lovingly, brushing off loose strands of her hair off her face. "I love you," he said softly.

Her eyes widened upon hearing him say that.

Rufus wanted to smack himself for saying that. "Damn it! Stupid drink… it's making me say out my thoughts…" he thought silently.

Tifa could feel her heart sinking. "No… everything is wrong… the kiss… the love… He shouldn't be Rufus… he should be…" she stopped thinking when he began to undo the knot of her robe. He parted the sheer fabric and gazed adoringly at her body… and he saw the scar. He frowned slightly at the sight of it. He slowly and gently traced it with his fingers and then kissed it.

She gasped at what he did.

He turned back to her and ran his fingers through her hair. "I'll protect you from Sephiroth, I promise you that, Tifa," he told her reassuringly before he began to kiss her again.

Somehow, she felt the protection in his words, and the reassurance of that protection from his kiss. 

For the first time in several years, she felt so safe… the kind of safety that she wasn't able to feel in Cloud's presence. She kissed him back as she pushed his robe off his shoulder. "Yes, Rufus," she whispered, finally surrendering completely to him…

*** 

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to be continued…


	2. 2

You Are Going To Die

By: General Quistis

----------------------------------------------------

Two

            "What do you mean you foo's didn't see Tifa? I haven't seen her around too!" Barret scolded them with a frantic look on his face.

"Yuffie, I thought she was with you?" Red XIII asked curiously.

"She was! I thought she'd follow me to Cloud and Aerith but she didn't!" Yuffie explained while fidgeting with her own fingers.

"She did not?" Aerith asked with a worried look on her face before turning to Cloud. He was looking outside the window and there was this blank look on his face. She could not determine what he was thinking about. "Cloud?" she asked.

He stared at the rain. "Well… it started to rain. She must've went off somewhere for shelter." He supposed.

"Foo'! Aren't ya worried about Teef?" Barret demanded.

"Worrying about her is useless because I know that she can take care of herself." Cloud replied calmly before turning to Aerith. "Why don't you and Yuffie go back to your own room? You look tired already." he suggested with a calm smile on his face.

She just nodded with a sweet smile on her face. "G'night," she said before she walked over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek which made him blush. With that, she went back to her room with a giggling and teasing Yuffie.

"Nice goin' foo'! Ya got yerself a gal!" Barret teased, nudging Cloud.

"Is she your girlfriend already, Cloud?" Red XIII asked with a slight smile on his face.

Cloud frowned at them, hating the fact that he was blushing intensely. "Mind your own business," he turned away from them and just decided to go to bed.

Vincent was just seated on his own bed, watching the others and listening to them. He took a quick glance at the clock and realized that it was already midnight.

Barret went to his own bed and in no time, he began to snore.

Red XIII climbed up beside Cloud and slept beside him.

Vincent sighed heavily as he leaned back against the headboard.

"You're not yet sleepy?" Cloud asked.

Vincent just shook his head.

Realizing that there was no use talking to Vincent since the guy was usually stiff and too quiet, Cloud just started to count imaginary sheep before he finally dozed off himself.

Vincent just remained awake the whole night through, just seated there on his bed, leaning against the headboard, staring at the wall some three meters away from him. He kept on reminiscing about the past, daydreaming of the what-if and the what-could-have-been between himself and Lucrecia. "Maybe Sephiroth could've been my own son…" he thought silently.

Come 3:00 am, the rain ceased. Vincent decided to go to the window and sit down by the windowsill and watch the stars at the already clear night sky. He sat down there, just thinking of the same things with no intention of sleeping.

4:00 am, his attention was caught by a young lady walking down the empty streets going to the hotel where they are staying. He frowned slightly upon realizing that it was Tifa. She had this look on her face that told Vincent that she was pleased with herself and at something else. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Where have you been?" he thought silently with a curious stare.

            Aerith sensed that someone just closed the door and it woke her up, even though she still pretended to be asleep. It was so dim inside the room but she could easily make out the figure when she decided to slightly open her eyes to take a peek on who it was.

"Tifa," she thought silently. She watched as Tifa removed her own shoes, gloves, belt and suspenders and then plopped down on her own bed with a relaxed sigh and a dreamy smile on her face. 

Tifa was just staring up at the ceiling dreamily. "My beloved…" she said softly, knowing that her two other roommates are asleep and that they would not hear her.

"Beloved?" Aerith repeated in her own thoughts. She frowned slightly. She could sense something bad about the way Tifa was acting.

She watched as Tifa began to hug the pillow as if she was so excited about something. "Heeheehee! Ruffy-darling…" she giggled softly.

Aerith's mouth dropped open. "Wh…what?!" she thought silently. She shifted to the other side, her green eyes wide in shock. "Who's Ruffy?" she began to ponder in silence.

            "KYAH!!! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!?"

Rufus jerked up in surprise when he heard the horrible shriek from behind him as he was tiptoeing going to his own quarters. "Bloody hell, Scarlet! Don't you ever shriek like that again, dammit!" he growled at her angrily as he faced her and pushed her away from himself. It shocked her. "Kyah… but, President Rufus, I…" she stammered.

"I told you bloody people not to wait up for me and not to bother me, but what are you doing standing behind the entrance door and waited for me to enter?" he demanded impatiently.

"Kyah… President Rufus, we were so worried about you! We thought that…"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard the same thing from Heidegger last night. Now, go away, I'm tired." Rufus snapped at her before turning away.

"Had a bad night, President Rufus?" she asked nervously.

"Yeah, because of you and Heidegger and the rain." Rufus muttered to himself. As he entered his own room and shut the door and locked it, he was thinking silently with a secret smile on his face, "Hmm… but thanks to Tifa, this night's been the best…"

He went straight to his bed, removed his shoes and plopped down on his bed, sighing with a pleased expression on his face. He closed his eyes for a while, reminiscing on what had happened earlier that evening. He wanted to be with her, but he knew that he had to wait.

"Shit… waiting is disgusting… I want her right now…" he thought in annoyance as he frowned and opened his eyes again, gazing up at the ceiling.

But then again, he thought twice about the situation. "Hey, I already _have_ her." He smiled slyly. "Looks like there's been a change of plans, Sephiroth…" he thought silently before he fell asleep.

            As early as 7:00 am, everyone was already up and moving, ready to leave… everyone but Tifa Lockheart.

"Wake up, Tifa! Otherwise, we're gonna leave you!" Yuffie warned stubbornly.

The dark-haired girl just covered herself with the blanket.

Yuffie stomped her feet impatiently before pulling off the blanket from Tifa. "Hey! C'mon! We still have to eat breakfast and then we need to leave immediately so that we can…"

"What's wrong with you @#$%$#^ people?! We're already in the @#$% breakfast room for a @#$%$#@ breakfast and you @#$% damsels are still here in this @#$%$#@ room?!" Cid demanded as he opened the door, surprising Aerith and Yuffie.

"Oh, Cid, we're sorry, but can you tell Cloud that we'll just follow? Tifa wouldn't wake up," Aerith said gently, feeling a little embarrassed.

"What?! What's wrong with that @#$%^%$ dame?!" he demanded as he marched inside the room, his boots making loud stomping noises against the wooden floor. He stopped beside Tifa's bed and stared at the sleeping girl. "Man, what happened to her? Did she have a rough night or somethin'?" he asked curiously, examining her current condition.

Aerith just kept quiet.

"Well she wasn't here yet when I dozed off!" Yuffie stated.

"She must've been roaming around this @#$%$#@ place and stayed up late. @#$% girl. Hey!" Cid tapped Tifa's cheek rather hard with the back of his right hand.

Tifa slapped his hand away from her cheek and turned to the other side.

"Tifa?!" Yuffie wailed impatiently.

"@#$%$#@ it, Teef! Get up! We're gonna @#$%$#@ leave ya here if ya don't @#$%$#@ wake up, dammit!" Cid snapped.

She just answered them with a snore.

Aerith sighed heavily before she just decided to leave the waking up to Cid and Yuffie. "I'll see you guys downstairs." She said before she went out of the room with a worried look on her face. On her way to the breakfast lounge, she saw Vincent walking her way. "Oh, good morning, Vincent," she greeted with a weak smile on her face.

Vincent stopped to talk to Aerith. "Where are Tifa, Cid and Yuffie?" he asked.

"Why?" she asked.

"Barret's looking for them already." He replied.

"Uhm… Tifa's still asleep and Cid and Yuffie are trying to wake her up." She explained rather hesitantly.

Vincent was quiet for a few seconds before speaking up, "She arrived here at around 4 am."

She nodded slowly. "I know. I was awake when she entered the room." She said softly.

They fell silent.

"Did she tell you anything?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No. I pretended to be asleep while listening to her… she said something about a beloved of some sort… and mentioned a name… she referred to him as _Ruffy__-darling." She explained with a hesitant tone, not knowing if she should really tell Vincent everything._

Vincent frowned slightly, finally suspecting that something was really wrong. "What happened to her?" he muttered.

"I don't know myself, but I'm beginning to get worried. And she's still asleep! She must've tired herself out last night. I wonder what she did," Aerith said with a concerned but worried look on her face as she bowed down her head.

"Wonder what she did…" the words repeated themselves in Vincent's thoughts. "She must've been with someone," he stated flatly.

Aerith looked up at him. "But who?" she asked.

Vincent shrugged. "Must be that _Ruffy__-darling of hers. Whoever he is," he told her._

They jerked when they heard Cid yelling "@#$%$#$@#$%^^$#$$, Tifa! Wake the @#$%$#@ up!!! @#$%$#@!!!!!"

"Alright, alright, alright! I'm up!" Tifa replied angrily, stomping her feet.

Aerith and Vincent watched as Tifa marched out of the room with a deep frown on her face as she muttered angry curses.

"G…good morning, Tifa," Aerith greeted sweetly.

Tifa stopped and her facial expression changed from angry to cheerful. "Oh, hi, Aerith! Heehee! You look so lovely today!" she said happily.

Aerith blushed slightly. "Uhm… eheheh… thanks," she said sheepishly.

Tifa giggled. "So, how was the date with Cloud last night?" she asked.

"Is she being sarcastic or what?" Aerith thought nervously.

"No pun intended," Tifa continued, raising up her right hand as if swearing.

Aerith felt relieved. "Oh… uhm… it was okay. We had fun," she said.

"Oh good! What kinda fun? Can you tell me more about it?" Tifa asked excitedly as she got Aerith's hand and led the way to the breakfast lounge, leaving Vincent alone there.

Vincent scratched his head before turning to Cid and Yuffie, approaching him with ridiculous looks on their faces. "Where's Tifa?" Yuffie asked.

"She just went with Aerith to the Breakfast lounge." Vincent replied before he decided to just follow after them.

            "Rise and shine, Puberty-boy!"

Rufus immediately got up from his bed, his eyes wide in surprise upon seeing Sephiroth standing by the bed, staring at him with a mean smile on his face.

Rufus took a quick glance at the clock and saw that it was still early: 7:00 am. He turned back to Sephiroth with an annoyed look on his face. "What are you doing here and how did you get in here?" he demanded.

"Through the window." Sephiroth replied, gesturing towards the open window.

Rufus realized that he forgot to close his window last night. "Shit," he muttered under his breath before plopping down on the bed again, sighing heavily. "Get out of here," he said calmly.

"Had a rough night, Puberty-boy?" Sephiroth asked, sitting down on the bed.

"Why the bloody hell are you calling me _Puberty-boy?! I'm way past puberty stage, for crying out loud; I'm 20 years old!" Rufus snapped impatiently at him._

Sephiroth just laughed at him. "Well, you look like you just had your first love." He teased.

Rufus just kept quiet.

"So, who was the girl you went to bed with last night?" Sephiroth asked.

"Shut up," Rufus snapped. "You mean you didn't see whom I was with at the Gold Saucer?" he asked.

"No. I was too far." Sephiroth replied mindlessly.

Rufus got up. "Get out of here, I still need to sleep," he said crankily, gesturing for Sephiroth to just leave through the window.

"Better sleep later. They are leaving already," Sephiroth told him.

"What?" Rufus asked.

"You're supposed to follow them, right? Remember the deal?" Sephiroth asked with a sly smile on his face.

Rufus kept quiet for a second, thinking about the deal… and the change of plans. He smiled and nodded. "Oh yeah… now I remember. So, why don't you get out of here first and I'll tell the others to get ready?" he asked with a sarcastic smile on his face.

Sephiroth got up. "Remember, Rufus; you fail me and you die." He told him.

"I _never_ fail. This is just a show in front of Cloud and acting is one of my specialties." Rufus told him with a proud look on his face before flipping his hair.

Sephiroth just snickered. "Whatever. I'll be visiting you tonight," he told him before he left.

Rufus's smile faded away before he turned back to his bed after Sephiroth had left. "He disgusts me," he thought silently.

            "Are we really going to leave here right now?" Tifa asked Cloud with wide eyes.

Cloud stared at her curiously. "We have to," he told her.

"But… can't we stay a little longer?" she asked with a pleading look on her face.

All eyes turned to her unbelievably.

"Uhm… never mind…" she muttered miserably. She just stared at her food.

"Don't you plan on eating that?" Barret asked.

"I'm not hungry," she said before she got up. "I'll just wait for you guys outside." She said with a weak smile on her face before going out.

"Is there anything wrong with her?" Aerith asked curiously.

"I don't' know…" Yuffie replied.

"She just seems so @#$%^%$ cranky." Cid pointed out.

"Foo'. Wha's wrong with her?" Barret said with a ridiculous look on his face.

"Maybe she's just sleepy," Aerith  pointed out with a calm smile on her face.

            Tifa sighed heavily before sitting down on the sidewalk, feeling so confused. "What's happening to me?" she thought silently before looking up at the clear blue skies. She smiled slightly. "I miss him…" she whispered softly.

"You miss who?" Aerith asked from behind her.

She jerked and got up. "Oh… hi, Aerith." She greeted casually.

Aerith smiled sweetly at Tifa. "Are you seeing someone?" she asked casually.

"N…no…" Tifa replied.

Aerith just looked into her eyes, as if trying to read her thoughts.

Tifa just shrugged before looking up at the clear blue skies again. "It's such a beautiful day today, don't you think so?" she asked cheerfully.

Aerith was about to tell her not to change the subject, but her attention was caught by a Soldier in blue uniform approaching them with a bouquet of red and white roses. She took a step backward, taking Tifa with her. "Let's go." She muttered to Tifa.

"Why?" Tifa asked, unaware of the Soldier approaching them.

"Ahem," the Soldier cleared his throat.

The two girls stared at him as they stopped walking. "Y…yes?" Aerith asked nervously.

"Do you know any Tifa Lockheart?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm Tifa Lockheart," Tifa introduced.

The Soldier handed her the bouquet of red and white roses. "A gift for you, Miss Lockheart," he said.

Tifa's eyes widened in awe as she took the bouquet, but she was quiet.

Aerith eyed the colors carefully before turning back to the Soldier. "Where did this come from, mister?" she asked with a sweet smile on her face.

The Soldier just saluted. "Have a good day, ladies." He told them before leaving.

"Hmm… I wonder what's going on today? Most of the people around me can't seem to answer my questions," Aerith said airily, eyeing Tifa carefully who was busily examining the roses.

"Tifa," Aerith began with an impatient look on her face.

"Hmm?" Tifa asked, biting her lower lip when she saw a small card. She got it and began to read it.

Aerith read it over Tifa's shoulder: "_Tifa_ darling, I would like to see you again…_" Aerith stopped reading when Tifa moved away from her, noticing that she was reading over her shoulder._

"Hey, who's that?!" Aerith demanded with a playful smile on her face as she went after Tifa.

Tifa ran off from her, "It's nothing!" she told her while giggling happily.

"I do hope it's not Cloud!" Aerith said, putting her hands on her hips.

"If it's Cloud, I would've passed it on to you!" Tifa replied with a wink before she sat down on the sidewalk again. Aerith sighed hopelessly before approaching her friend again, sitting down beside her. "C'mon, Teef, who's that?" Aerith asked with a worried look on her face.

"Why do you ask, anyway?" Tifa asked.

"Because I'd like to know. You know that it's me and Cloud… I must know who you're with. We're best friends, remember?" Aerith asked with a weak smile on her face as she put her arm around Tifa's shoulder and leaned her head against her shoulder.

Tifa smiled gently at Aerith. "If I tell you, will you promise not to tell anybody else?" she asked with a solemn tone.

"Of course. You know you can always count on me?" Aerith told her reassuringly.

Tifa handed the card to Aerith. Aerith took it and began to read it with a whispery tone, "_Tifa_ darling, I would like to see you again, but I don't know when and how. If ever I will have the chance without anyone else knowing, I'll send one of my Turks for you, specifically, Elena, since she's the nicest among them. But anyway, Sephiroth is heading over to the ___Temple__ of the Ancients. Take good care of your friend, Aerith… and take care of yourself too; I don't want him harming you. Loving you always, Rufus."_

"What's up?" Yuffie asked from behind them.

The two girls shrieked and jumped up, moving away from Yuffie and stared at her wide-eyed.

Yuffie blinked. "Hey, it's not like I'm a monster or anything?!" she snapped at them.

"Oh, hi, Yuffie," Aerith said casually, her face turning a little red as she sneaked the card, inserting it inside Tifa's pocket. Tifa jerked slightly.

"You're done eating already?" Tifa asked.

"Yeah. Anything wrong?" Yuffie asked, then her eyes widened in curiosity. "Oh my GAWD!!! Tifa! Where did those come from?" she asked.

"Oh… these are Aerith's. She's gonna give them to Cloud, right, Aerith?" Tifa asked, turning to Aerith with a cheerful smile on her face, and then winking.

Aerith raised her eyebrows at Tifa. "Oh yeah! I just… bought them in the flower shop…" she told Yuffie with a hesitant look on her face.

"But aren't those expensive? Roses these days are really expensive… and that bouquet must've cost around 3,000 gil!" Yuffie said in disbelief.

"Oh you know… we pitched in so that I can help Aerith declare her much stronger love to Cloud. Heehee!" Tifa said happily.

"Huh?" raised an eyebrow at Tifa.

"Thank you for helping me choose these colors, Tifa." Aerith said happily as Tifa handed her the bouquet.

"My pleasure, Aerith." Tifa said.

"Oh yuck! And I thought you'd be picking out Pink and white." Yuffie said with a disgusted look on her face.

"What's wrong with red and white?" Tifa asked with a perplexed look on her face.

"Ugh… it just reminds me of… ShinRa." Yuffie muttered miserably.

"Hey, in this case, red means _love and white means _purity_. I only mean _pure love_ for Cloud. Heehee!" Aerith explained with a slight blush on her face._

"Good thinking, Aerith." Tifa thought silently, proud that Aerith can play along easily with her.

They were interrupted when the others finally joined them outside. 

"Ya foo's! Ready to go?" Barret asked them.

"Oh, Cloud!" Aerith ran over to Cloud, embraced him and kissed him right in front of everybody else. Vincent turned away with a stifled smile on his face, while Yuffie jaw-dropped.

Barret's eyes widened as he gasped, while Cid muttered, "Shit…"

Red XIII just scratched his ear and stretched.

Tifa smiled, watching Cloud turn red and stared unbelievably at Aerith.

"Wh…wha?!" Cloud stammered.

Aerith presented to him the bouquet, "For you, Cloud," she said happily.

Cloud stared unbelievably at the roses. "W…what?" he asked nervously as he took them and then sniffed them. He smiled sheepishly at Aerith. "Uhm… thank you, Aerith. They're… they're very lovely…" he said rather hesitantly because everyone was watching them.

"So are we forming a party now?" Barret asked, interrupting their lovey-dovey moment.

"This early?" Yuffie protested.

"For later. The sooner the better." Barret told her.

Cloud cleared his throat. "Uhm… okay. Sure… who's coming with me?" he asked.

"I'll go with you," Aerith presented happily.

He smiled at her before turning to the others. "Who else?" he asked.

Silence.

Barret turned to Tifa, as if expecting her to join the party too, but the girl didn't move. She just turned away with a dreamy look on her face.

No one was speaking.

"C'mon, we don't have all day!" Barret snapped at them.

Silence.

And Tifa remembered something. "_Take care of your friend, Aerith." Her smile faded away as she turned to Cloud and Aerith. "Something must be going on… Rufus said that he'd protect me from Sephiroth… maybe he also doesn't want anything bad happening to my friends… does this mean that he knows something about Sephiroth's plans?" she thought silently before stepping forward. "I… I'll go." She told them with a weak smile on her face._

Aerith smiled at her.

Barret, Cid, Vincent and Red XIII noticed something different about Tifa and Aerith as they were all walking down the road moments later.

"Those girls are damn quiet, don't you think?" Cid muttered under his breath.

"You think they're really arguing over Cloud?" Barret asked.

"Why would they even argue over him?" Cid asked.

"Foo'! Tifa likes the damn guy!" Barret told him.

"Oh…" Cid said.

The two girls turned their gazes to them.

"Eheheheh… nothing," Barret said sheepishly.

The two girls looked away.

"Thanks for saving my ass a while ago, Aerith." Tifa whispered to her friend.

"Well if I didn't do that, they'd be after your Rufus! I wouldn't want to see you sad if they start strangling him on account that he's from the enemy's side." Aerith whispered back.

"I don't think he's really an enemy now, Aerith," Tifa responded softly.

Aerith examined the solemn look on Tifa's face. "Are you thinking about what he said about me?" she asked.

Tifa nodded. "Whatever you do, please stay close to Cloud… even as we arrive there. We're also heading for the Temple of the Ancients, and judging from Rufus's note, Sephiroth is heading there too." She explained.

"How come he knows?" Aerith asked all of a sudden.

"I… I don't know… probably because they're also tracking down Sephiroth because he's also after the Promised Land." Tifa hesitated.

They fell silent.

Aerith's eyes slightly widened before telling her, "What if… what if they're working together?"

"That's impossible!" Tifa cried out, surprising the others.

They all stopped walking and stared at Tifa.

She smiled weakly at all of them. "We're just… talking about… mixing drinks." She told them.

"Mixing drinks?" Cloud asked.

"Never knew you were interested in Mixing Drinks." Red XIII told Aerith.

"Oh you know… I'm just asking Tifa if mixing… if mixing pineapple with gin will taste good and then add some… vinegar and fish sauce! And she said that it's impossible." Aerith explained.

"Oh yuck…" Yuffie remarked.

"Of course, it's impossible, Aerith. It will taste bad! And vinegar and fish sauce don't mix. The pineapple juice with gin is good enough for a drink." Tifa said, playing along before walking ahead of them so that the others would follow behind too.

"I think we should talk about other stuff already; they're beginning to feel weird around us." Aerith whispered to her.

"Yeah, I think so too." Tifa told her softly.

With that, Tifa began to converse to Yuffie, while Aerith began to talk to Cloud.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Author's note: I will continue this if you inspire me with your reviews!!!!! Please????? ;_;


	3. 3

You Are Going To Die

By: General Quistis

Author's notes: Uhm… things became different than they are in the game itself because it's for the sake of the story. So there! Hahahah… Read and be dead in seven days *just kidding* 

----------------------------------------------------- 

Three

            "Why can't I go on my own?"

"That's the fifth time she asked that ever since we arrived here…" Tifa thought silently with a restless look on her face. "Tifa, I don't understand why you are insisting that we go with Aerith wherever she will go." Cloud pointed out with an impatient look on his face.

"Can we just go someplace else?" Tifa asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Girl! What's wrong with you!?!?!" Barret demanded with a frantic look on his face as he grabbed Tifa's shoulders and shook her violently.

"N…nothing's wrong with me," Tifa responded before moving away from him. "I just wish you guys would listen to me and stay with Aerith no matter what happens!" she said.

"Why? Is something bad going to happen?" Yuffie asked from out of the blue.

"Something bad is always happening. Aerith is the most important among all of us here, so I think we really need to protect her." Tifa pointed out.

"Why?" Cloud, Yuffie, Barret, Cid, Vincent, Red XIII, Cait Sith and even Aerith herself all said in unison.

Tifa felt so uneasy, she felt the whole area spinning around her. She did not really know how to explain everything to them.

"Damn it, Tifa, if this is just one of your damn @#$%^%$ games, just get the @#$%^%$ hell out of here and go back to your @#$%^%$ hometown wherever the hell that is!" Cid snapped angrily at her.

She stiffened as she bowed down her head. "I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying here…" she told them before smiling sarcastically at them.

They all fell silent.

Unknown to them, the Turks were already able to follow from behind them… they were just hiding.

"What's wrong with them? Why won't they move on?" Reno whispered to his companions.

"Seems to me like they're having an argument and Tifa's the one guilty…" Elena said softly.

Rude just kept quiet while reading an SMS from his mobile phone, "Hey, guys, General Heidegger's telling us to go back to base right now." He told them softly.

"What? Why?" Reno asked.

"Dunno." Rude replied.

With that, the three watched for a few more moments and then decided that they would leave after Cloud and his party would disperse.

"Let's just go, okay?" Cloud told the others before leading the way. Everyone followed right after him…except for Tifa who remained standing there. She turned her gaze to where the Turks were hiding, even though she doesn't know that they were there. She just had this feeling that they were being watched.

Yes, they were being watched by four people.

The three remaining Turks and another one…

            Sephiroth smiled slyly as he eyed Tifa from head to toe, "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Now I know why Rufus likes you, Miss Lockheart. Your body is such a wonderland." He said softly with some sarcasm on his face. He watched as she turned away and walked after Cloud and the others who were already far from where she was. He eyed them carefully. "The Black Materia and the Holy Materia will be mine for the taking today…" he thought silently before descending from his hiding place, but upon landing on the ground away from the Turks' view, he was surprised when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He froze as his eyes widened. He slowly turned around with a stern look on his face. "Oh, it's you." He sneered.

Rufus removed his hand from Sephiroth's shoulder as he spoke up with a stiff tone, "What are you doing here?"

"Shall I ask you the same question?" Sephiroth replied with a haughty look on his face.

Rufus just flipped his hair. "I followed my Turks here but they don't know that I'm here. I want to see how you will bring Tifa to me." He said.

Sephiroth thought for a while, not being able to comprehend what Rufus was trying to prove. "What for?" he asked.

"I want to make sure you will not harm her. I don't want to see any scratches or bruises or any injury when she's already with me, do you understand?" Rufus asked.

"Is that an order?" Sephiroth asked with some sarcasm added with it.

Rufus was quiet for a while before saying, "Yes, that's an order."

Sephiroth was surprised. He thought that all the while, Rufus was afraid of him because he thought he knew of what he can do… but gazing into Rufus's eyes made him realize that he was wrong.

Rufus ShinRa can never fear anything…

Sephiroth just smiled. "Unless… I use his weakness to scare him…" he thought silently. He was still smarter, after all, and he was proud of himself. He chuckled lightly and saluted, "Yes, sir." 

Rufus frowned slightly, sensing that something was going on in Sephiroth's head through the look in his green eyes. With that, Sephiroth walked away, a sly smile plastered on his face.

It insulted Rufus, making him angry, but he did not say anything. He just turned away and proceeded to follow him discreetly. 

***

            Some days passed and they finally arrived at the Forgotten Capital.

Tifa stayed behind. Suddenly, she did not have any desire to follow the rest. "They wouldn't listen to me…" she thought silently. Instead, she just decided to do a little _investigating_ on her own. "Sephiroth could be here somewhere…" she thought silently before she turned to the other direction. She hoped that nobody will notice whether she left or not. "Well, they might not give a damn about me anyway so…" she began to walk away, but her head was still towards the opposite direction… and then she stopped when she bumped against something hard.

"Ow…" she turned her head to face the hard material that hit her…

She froze. Black leather suit. She slowly lifted her gaze to see who it really was.

What she saw made her gasp and move backward, but still keeping her gaze onto him.

"What's the matter? Got Sephiphobia?" Sephiroth asked mockingly with a sly smile on his face as he clutched his Masamune tighter, ready to use it against her in case she does something stupid.

"Wh…what…" she stammered. Maybe Rufus was right… he did warn them… about Aerith. Her eyes widened upon realizing something, "Sephiroth will kill Aerith…" she thought silently.

"Are you just going to stand there and stare at me all day? C'mon, I want you to scream shrilly, like, wake up all the bats in this place and even the dead," Sephiroth told her.

"I don't scream like _that_." She argued with a voice that seemed to falter. "Okay, Tifa, it's a bad idea to leave your party," her conscience was scolding her already. She clenched her fists.

"Still the defensive Miss Lockheart I knew from five years back, eh?" Sephiroth asked with a demented stare as he raised his Masamune.

She was already in her fighting stance, ready to defend herself… even though she knows that her opponent is way stronger than she is… when suddenly, there was a gunshot.

            Cloud and the others heard the sound of the gunshot and it made them freeze. Aerith was interrupted in her prayer. "What was that?" she asked with a nervous look on her face.

Cloud checked all his materia… especially the Black Materia. He turned back to Aerith. "Go on." He urged with a reassuring smile on his face.

She nodded before proceeding with a hesitant look on her face. She could feel that something was going on… something bad… 

_Death_.

She clutched her hands tightly in prayer as she closed her eyes for a moment when that word echoed through her mind. She did not want to hear it anymore, but it seemed to be impending in reality.

"Where's Tifa?" Vincent realized silently as he scanned the others. They were incomplete.

"@#$%!!! Where's Tifa?" Cid asked out loud, interrupting Aerith once more.

"WCid asked out loud, interrupting Aerith once more.

 ending in reality.

ment when that word echoed through her mind. h…what? What's going on?" Aerith asked, attempting to stand up, but Vincent stopped her, "No, you stay here with Cloud. I'm going to look for her," he instructed.

Aerith nodded nervously.

"I'm goin' wit ya." Barret told him.

"Me too!" Cid chimed in.

            Sephiroth froze upon hearing the gunshot, but he checked on himself and he could not feel any pain. "A warning shot…" he realized silently before smirking at Tifa. "Mwahahahaha. It looks like your Knight in Shining Armor is here today, huh?" he asked mockingly.

Tifa was looking past Sephiroth and that was when he realized that his assailant was just behind him. He was right. He felt the cold metal of a double-barrel shotgun against the back of his neck.

Tifa stepped back a little.

"So, Rufus ShinRa… what is going on?" Sephiroth asked with an innocent tone.

"I should ask you the same question," Rufus responded from behind him, ready to pull the trigger.

Sephiroth chuckled lightly. "You know very well that you cannot kill me with just a mere shotgun… and that you can never beat me in a fight. You're a weakling and you know that. You have no MP, you can't even defend yourself without your dead cat and you can't even beat Cloud Strife before that's why you just flew away with your chopper. Isn't that true, Rufus?" he asked mockingly.

Rufus just smiled slyly at him, "No MP?" he asked.

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed.

"Can't defend myself without Dark Nation?" Rufus asked. "The deal is off…" he muttered before attempting to pull the trigger, but before he was able to do so, Sephiroth seemed to have teleported himself and then reappeared behind Rufus, ready to stab him.

Rufus instantly turned around and cast ice at his opponent.

Sephiroth was surprised even as he dodged the Magic attack.

"No MP, huh? A guy can learn if he wants to." Rufus said mockingly. "And it so happens that I'm a fast learner." He continued with a sly smile on his face before he flipped his hair.

Sephiroth laughed at him. "It seems like I underestimated you, Rufus." He said with a humble tone. "But tell me, how long can you last?" he asked.

"Until you die." Rufus responded.

"Not if I kill you first," Sephiroth muttered angrily.

Tifa felt confused. "So… you two know each other?" she asked in awe.

"Mwahahahaha! Isn't obvious, bitch? Your boyfriend here asked me to get you and offer you to him and then he's going to give me the Promised Land and Cloud Strife in return!" Sephiroth snapped at her.

Her mouth dropped open. "Wh…what?! But… what are you going to do with Cloud?" she asked.

"Simple: kill him. He will just interfere." Sephiroth told her.

"Is that all? I thought you'll build your kingdom in the Promised land and then Cloud Strife's gonna be your Queen! Heh heh heh…" Rufus teased mockingly at him.

He raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me, I have no intention of doing that to Cloud Strife. I just want to get rid of him!" Sephiroth snapped as he prepared to attack Rufus.

"Can't you take a joke, Sephiroth?" Rufus asked playfully.

"Hey, hey, hey! So I am just… being used here like…" Tifa pointed out rather hesitantly.

"It's not what you think…" Rufus began.

"Oh yes, it is, Miss Lockheart. You're just another sex object devirginized and then used by Mister ShinRa." Sephiroth pointed out.

"No, she's not. And you shut up already!" Rufus warned angrily, preparing to attack Sephiroth.

"Damn it!" Now, Tifa was angry. She didn't know who to strangle: Rufus or Sephiroth.

"Tifa, we'll talk later, alright? This time, we have to take this bastard back to where he came from," Rufus told her with a cold look on his face.

But she was still speechless. She just nodded with an unsure look on her face. "Right." She said with a weak tone.

But just when Sephiroth was about to attack them, he froze when he felt some holy energy… coming from a static direction. He smiled slyly. "Oh no, you won't…" he muttered under his breath before he jumped up, landing on a high cliff, and then proceeded up a mountainous structure until he disappeared, leaving Tifa and Rufus below.

"Wh…where is he going?" Tifa asked.

"He's heading for Aerith!" Rufus said before he approached her. "Quick, we have to get there immediately!" he told her.

"But…" she stammered, but she was cut off when Cid and Barret just dove out of nowhere onto Rufus, pinning him down to the ground and restraining his hands behind his back.

Tifa gasped.

"Ya foo'! What did you do to Tifa?" Barret demanded.

"Dammit! I didn't… ow!" Rufus was trying to talk, but Cid punched his face. "@#$% you! You were just usin' her aren't you? We heard everything, you bastard! @##$%@#$ you are such a @#$%!!!!!" Cid yelled angrily at him.

"No, please! Cid, Barret, please no!" Tifa said as she attempted to push them off of Rufus.

"No, Teef, this guy's dangerous!" Barret told her before Cid began to tie Rufus's hands together.

Tifa turned around and saw Vincent approaching them. She smiled in relief upon seeing him. "Oh, Vincent, there you are! Can you tell these two to leave Rufus alone?" she pleaded.

"But…" Vincent stammered.

"Damn, where are those Turks when you need them?!" Rufus was thinking angrily before speaking up again, "Listen, you don't have much time! Sephiroth is going to kill Aerith! You have to go back to her and stop him! He doesn't want her to talk to the Lifestream so that you guys wouldn't receive any help! And he's also after the Black Materia!" he warned.

"Aw, c'mon you @#$%$#@! Give us a reason why we should believe you?" Cid asked mockingly as he got up after tying Rufus's feet and legs together.

Barret grabbed a handful of Rufus's hair and forced him to stand up.

"No! Leave him alone!" Tifa said as she pushed Barret away from Rufus. She held onto Rufus's arm and just stood beside him, as if protecting him from the brutes.

"Because I am telling the truth, goddamit!" Rufus snapped impatiently.

"C'mon, let's just go, okay?" Tifa asked. She told Cid and Barret.

"Fine! But if you're not telling the truth, you're really not going to see your damn office again!" Barret warned angrily as he grabbed Rufus away from Tifa and carried him on his shoulder.

"Bloody hell! This is very degrading! Put me down and untie me! I can walk!" Rufus snapped impatiently.

"No way, President Rufus. You're way to dangerous to just let you walk around without ropes restrainin' ya." Barret replied with a mocking tone as they began to walk.

"Tifa, will you tell this big bear to put me down and untie me because they wouldn't listen to me!" Rufus told her with a pleading but stiff tone.

"Barret, please release him," she told Barret with a pleading tone.

"No way, Teef! And since when did you become friends with this guy?" Barret demanded.

Tifa fell silent. She did not really want to answer that question.

"Let's just hurry up." Vincent told them sternly. He suddenly wanted to believe that everything that Rufus had mentioned to them was true. Then, he remembered what happened the other night… seeing Tifa out so late… and what Aerith had mentioned to him. Out loud, he told Tifa, "Were you with Rufus last night?" he asked in disbelief.

Rufus raised an eyebrow at him and Tifa just covered her own mouth with her hand. Vincent realized what he had just said and he felt sheepish upon putting the two to shame in front of two loudmouths like Barret and Cid. He just turned away apologetically and quickened his pace.

Cid noticed that Tifa was holding Rufus's shotgun. "What are you doing with that @#$%$#@ thing, Tifa? Just throw it away!" he instructed.

"This isn't your weapon, Cid, so just get your nose out of it." She wanted to say out loud, but she just shut up and looked away.

They finally arrived, surprising Yuffie, Red XIII and Cait Sith. "Wh… where did you…" Red XIII began as he stared at Rufus.

Rufus just sneered at him.

They all turned to Aerith who was still praying, and then to Cloud who was standing in place near her; watching her quietly with a serious look on his face.

"You'd better tell her to do that some other time because Sephiroth is really going to kill her!" Rufus warned impatiently.

"But… we can't go any nearer to Aerith… she's surrounded by that orb-thing…" Tifa explained upon observing her friend.

"Oh yeah? If Sephiroth is going to kill her, where is he going to come from?" Cid demanded from Rufus.

"I don't know!" Rufus snapped.

"How come you seem to know everything that Sephiroth is planning to do?" Barret asked him suspiciously.

"They're working together, obviously," Cid muttered.

"Just get her away from that place!!!" Rufus shouted impatiently, surprising Cloud.

Cloud turned to look at the others, his attention diverted from Aerith to them. His eyes widened in shock, but he was not able to say anything.

"Look, ShinRa, we're guarding Aerith here. He couldn't pass through us here so don't worry," Barret told Rufus mockingly.

"He could come from up there if he chooses to. Don't expect him to always use the ground entrance." Rufus warned airily.

"What is he talking about?" Cloud asked them.

"He said that Sephiroth's going to kill Aerith so we should get her out of that place," Vincent pointed out.

Cloud's eyes narrowed at Rufus upon hearing that. He frowned before turning back to Aerith. He suddenly felt nervous as he looked at her.

"Don't say I didn't warn you if she dies," Rufus muttered under his breath while eyeing Cloud with an angry look on his face.

"No, _you_ are going to die, ShinRa," Barret warned angrily before dropping him on the ground.

Rufus did not wince or cringe in pain; he was quiet even as the pain surged through his body.

"No! Barret, how could you?!" Tifa cried out in annoyance as she ran to Rufus and helped him.

"What's the meaning of this?!" Yuffie demanded in shock as she watched the two.

They all froze when they saw something descending from above. 

Cloud's eyes widened, his mind was screaming already, but he could not move.

Tifa gasped as she clutched the shotgun tightly and then mindlessly placed her aim at Sephiroth and pulled the trigger.

Aerith jerked upright when she heard the gunshot and she instantly looked behind her, but there was no one there… and Cloud just pushed her off the podium with him. Since he wasn't able to keep his balance, they rolled together down the steps, but he made sure that she was on top of him when they landed so that she would not get hurt.

They all watched in disbelief as Sephiroth landed on the spot where Aerith had been, his left shoulder bleeding… but he did not seem to mind any pain at all.

"Oh my God!" Aerith covered her mouth as she gasped and held on tightly to Cloud.

Cloud glared angrily at Sephiroth.

Sephiroth just stared blankly at him and then at Aerith… then at Rufus.

Rufus narrowed his eyes as he stared back at Sephiroth furiously.

"You just had to ruin everything, huh?" Sephiroth asked softly.

Rufus just frowned at him.

Sephiroth sneered at him, "You are going to die," and then left by teleporting.

They were all stunned for a few more moments before Aerith interrupted the silence with a sob. All eyes turned to her and Cloud touched her face. "Aerith, are you alright?" he asked gently.

She wiped her tears away. "I'm… I'm okay… are you?" she asked gently.

He smiled gently at her before turning his gaze to Rufus, his eyes appeared to be thanking him; but Rufus just looked away.

Tifa just remained with Rufus and she did not move as she watched Barret and Vincent help Aerith and Cloud up. She waited until everyone's attention was on the two and that's when she let go of the shotgun and began to undo the ropes tied around Rufus's legs.

Rufus stared unbelievably at her, "What are you doing?" he asked in a whispery tone.

"Shh…" she warned with a wink.

The coldness from his eyes disappeared as he smiled slightly at her. 

She smiled back at him with a slight blush on her face.

"Hey! What do you think you're doin'?!" Barret demanded from her.

She froze.

"Damn…" Rufus muttered frustratingly.

Barret pulled her away from Rufus and he tightened the ropes. "Don't expect to be escaping, ya foo'." He warned.

"Don't worry, I'll just stay in one place," Rufus replied with a sarcastic tone.

"Better stick to your word," Barret warned before he got Rufus and carried him. "Let's get out of here, fellows." He told them.

"Wh…where are we going?" Tifa asked nervously.

"We are going to look for some place to rest. Aerith is tired… and we are holding Rufus as hostage." He replied with a mean look on his face.

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?! You can't do that to me!" Rufus snapped angrily.

"Oh yes, we can, President Rufus. You're in our hands now." Barret told him mockingly.

"But Barret, Rufus meant no harm… he…" Tifa began, but Cid cut her off, "What the @#$% are you @#$%$#@ talking about?! That guy's an asshole and @#$% him, he's a goddamn ShinRa! He almost put you into @#$%$#@ danger a while ago!"

"But he was only trying to protect me from Sephiroth!" she said impatiently.

"Nonsense! Why would a person like him even try to protect someone like you?" Yuffie asked.

"Oh so you mean to say that I'm not worth protecting just because I'm this worthless girl from the slums?" Tifa asked airily.

"Stop it you guys," Cloud warned with a stern tone.

Tifa just looked away.

"Foo'! C'mon, let's just get out of here and we'll argue later. Just make sure that the Turks aren't followin' or somethin'." Barret snapped at them.

Rufus was thinking, "Where are those stupid Turks anyway?" and then he turned to Tifa, looking at her as if saying, "Do something!"

But Tifa wasn't looking at him. She had her eyes on the ground as if wanting to avoid further conversation from any of them.

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to be continued…..


	4. 4

You Are Going To Die

By: General Quistis

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Four

            "Gyahahaha. Don't be ridiculous! President Rufus is gone?!" Heidegger asked airily.

"Kyah! He's been missing for some days already! I thought he just locked himself up in his office and didn't want anyone disturbing him so we did not really check on him." Scarlet replied nervously.

"Why would he even be gone?" Reeve asked.

"I don't know!" she snapped.

"What if he got kidnapped or something?" Palmer asked.

"Who'd kidnap him, AVALANCHE? Highly impossible." Reeve told them.

"Why not?" Scarlet asked, turning to him.

"They're busily looking for Sephiroth and trying to stop him from doing something stupid against everyone." He replied simply with a calm look on his face.

"Right..." she said sarcastically before turning to Heidegger, "What about your damn Turks? Maybe they know anything?" she asked.

"I told you, I gave them a off already!" Heidegger replied impatiently.

"How could you give them an off at such a time like this?!" Palmer demanded in shock.

"Gyah! It's scheduled for them to have an off starting today and then they won't be returning for four days!" he argued impatiently before stomping his foot. "I'll just send out some Soldiers to look for President Rufus!" he snapped before leaving the conference room.

Scarlet clenched her fists. "Kyah! How could we have not noticed that he's gone?!" she stated flatly.

"Because we're so busily occupied with other stuff," Reeve muttered miserably before reaching for his mobile phone because it was ringing. He looked at the caller I.D. and saw that there was no number. The screen was blank. 

He frowned slightly before answering it in speakerphone mode: "Hello?"

"Reeve?"

Silence.

"President Rufus?!" Palmer, Scarlet and Reeve all said in unison upon recognizing the voice.

"Yes, this is Rufus... Just… stop all the Mako reactors and… go look for Sephiroth or else AVALANCHE is going to kill me and burn ShinRa down." And then he hung up.

"President Rufus? Hey? Hello?" Reeve called out, but there was already the dial tone.

Scarlet got up from her seat and rushed to Reeve, getting his mobile phone and checked if the call had registered under "received calls".

She frowned slightly when she realized that there was no number registered too. "KYAH! What the hell is this?!" she screeched frantically as she handed the phone back to Reeve.

He sighed heavily. "I don't know… but… it's really President Rufus." He said softly.

"But… but… where is he?" Palmer asked nervously.

"He sounded… stiff… as usual…" Scarlet told them with a perplexed look on her face. She turned to look at Reeve, "Like he isn't afraid of getting killed…" she said softly.

"So AVALANCHE really got him… it's unbelievable… how could they…" Reeve shook his head in disbelief.

"Kyah. But now that we know that AVALANCHE really got him, we should take action already." She pointed out with a determined look on her face.

            "Nice goin' with the no-number-on-the-screen trick, Vincent," Barret congratulated with a proud look on his face.

"How did you know how to do that? We only teach that in ShinRa." Rufus told Vincent with a frown on his face.

Vincent just smiled slightly at him, "To put it simply, I once worked there as a Turk." And then disconnected the wires from the telephone line.

The place where they headed for was Icicle Inn. Barret wanted Rufus to pay for their expenses but Cloud insisted that he just use their own money to rent some rooms for themselves because it would be a hassle to let the _hostage_ pay for their expenses.

Rufus just looked away. "Hmf. Aren't you going to switch on the heater for this place? I'm beginning to get frostbite." He snapped impatiently.

"Pipe down, ShinRa. You're a hostage remember?" Barret asked.

"I know, but it's still nice of you to get me my own room even though I can't really move around because you tied me to the bed!" Rufus said with a sarcastic smile on his face.

His arms and legs were all tied to the four bedposts.

"You still get @#$%$#@ cold in that thick clothing of yours?! Feh! That's @#$%$#@ unbelievable, ShinRa." Cid said mockingly.

"Damn it. I already talked to the damn executives about what you wanted us to do, now, will you let me go?" Rufus asked with a stiff tone.

"No." Barret and Cid both said in unison.

Rufus rolled his eyes. "Useless…" he muttered miserably.

Vincent examined Rufus's current state and he somewhat pitied him. He turned to Barret, "I'll just see how Aerith and Cloud are doing," he said hesitantly before leaving.

"Okay, ShinRa, we'll be in the other room. We'll be checkin' on ya. If you do something stupid or if we find out that you've escaped, we're gonna make sure that Teef gets it!" Barret warned with a scary look on his face which made Rufus stare ridiculously at him.

"Damn! Now they're using Tifa against me!" Rufus thought angrily to himself as he watched the two leave him alone in that cold and dark room (they turned out the lights, unfortunately).

Cid stared unbelievably at Barret, "Man, are you really going to do that to Tifa?" he asked in disbelief.

"Nah. I was lyin' back there. I know that that ShinRa Brat likes Teef. It's in his eyes. I'm sure he's not that selfish enough to just care for himself. He _must_ care for Tifa. He should prove that to us if he wants to earn our trust." Barret told him.

"I see… so you're just acting." Cid told him ridiculously.

"C'mon, it's worth it! We'll get all the Mako reactors to stop; we'll even help Rufus with Sephiroth if he wants to." Barret told him.

"Yeah, right. As if Rufus can still trust good 'ol AVALANCHE rebels after all the shit we made him go through." Cid muttered sarcastically.

Barret stopped and knocked on one of the doors to his right. "Tifa?"

There was no answer, but the door opened and Tifa was there with a sad look on her face. She did not say anything.

"It's your turn to guard that Brat. Make sure he's quiet the whole night and don't let him escape, ya hear?" he warned.

She just nodded silently before stepping out of the room. Barret and Cid entered the room and saw that Yuffie was seated by the window with Red XIII just watching the snow.

"What's happening?" Yuffie asked, turning to them.

"Just sent out Tifa to take care of Rufus." Barret told her before turning to Cid. "Hey, you have the key. Lock their door so that they wouldn't really get out of there." He instructed.

            "She's asleep," Cloud told Vincent in a low tone as he got up from the couch by the window. Vincent stared at the sleeping Aerith for a moment before turning back to Cloud, "About Tifa…" he began.

Cloud just shook his head, "Aerith told me… but we shouldn't tell Barret and the others." He told him.

Vincent nodded his head, "I know. So my suspicions were correct from the start." He told him.

"By the way, who's guarding Rufus?" Cloud asked.

"I think he'll be asking either Tifa or Yuffie to do it." Vincent replied before taking a seat by the fireplace. 

"I'm quite surprised about this… this situation…" Cloud told him softly as he stared at Aerith's peaceful face. 

Vincent turned to him to make him see that he's listening. With that, Cloud proceeded, "If it wasn't for Rufus, she'd be dead by now… I… I don't know what I'm going to do…" he said softly with a bitter smile on his face before sighing heavily and then turned to Vincent.

Vincent smiled calmly at him, "Well, I guess a bad guy can change too," he told him.

Cloud shook his head, "Well… come to think of it, what if it's all a show? Like Rufus isn't really like what we had perceived him to be: like his father." He pointed out.

"But still, it's not clear whether he is just using Tifa or not." Vincent pointed out.

Cloud frowned slightly, "We'll just have to investigate further about that." He said simply.

            The moment Tifa shut the door behind her, she heard a clicking sound from the door itself. She stiffened even as she opened the lights and looked around her. "It's cold in here," she said softly as she shivered and hugged herself.

"I know." Rufus said miserably.

Tifa knew that someone locked the door so that she would not attempt to let Rufus escape. She knows that she could always make Rufus use the window, but it would be hard to climb down because of the snow and the cold wind outside. She sighed heavily before approaching Rufus. "I'm sorry if I got you into this mess, Rufus," she said apologetically with a trembling voice as she began to untie him.

He watched her carefully, scanning the look on her face. She looked miserable. "Why are you untying me?" he asked directly.

She smiled bitterly at him, "I can't bear to see you looking like this." She replied before she was finally able to release him. He slowly sat up, grunting. "I think my feet got cramps because of those ropes…" he muttered miserably as he massaged his own ankles and then his wrists.

She looked around, checking for a heater system, but there was none. She just turned back to Rufus and got the blanket for him and wrapped it around him. "Here. You must be really cold…" she said.

"Not really… I think you need it the most." He said, offering her the blanket, but she refused it. Instead, she just went to the fireplace and began to search for a match since there was already firewood prepared. "I hope this will do," she told him, trying to sound cheerful despite the situation.

He was amazed at her positive attitude despite their current situation. He smiled slightly as he studied her figure being silhouetted by the light given off by the flames after she lit the fireplace. He remembered their first night together and it made him blush slightly, so he turned away hesitantly. "What are you doing here anyway?" he asked.

She laughed gently before she got up and returned to him. "Isn't it obvious? I'm your guard… for now, I think." She replied as she sat down on the couch by the bed.

He raised an eyebrow. "I think they made a big mistake in choosing you as a guard." He told her.

She chuckled lightly, "What made you say so?" she asked curiously.

He turned back to her and studied her pretty face. Sure, she wasn't as pretty as Aerith is at first glance, but it takes a second look and a stare into her eyes to realize that she isn't just about the body.

She was beyond beautiful in his point of view. He smiled lovingly at her, which surprised her because it was highly unusual for a person like Rufus ShinRa to be doing that, "Come here," he told her, welcoming her with open arms.

She felt her heart sink as she immediately got up and rushed into Rufus's arms. He fell back on the bed with her; her face buried against his chest.

He sensed that she was crying even though she was not saying anything. He looked down at her with a concerned look on his face, "Why are you crying?" he asked softly.

She wiped her tears away and sniffed before she turned to look at Rufus with a sweet smile on her face. "I missed you… and I'm sorry…" she told him.

His eyes narrowed at her, "Sorry?" he asked.

"For getting you into this mess. I… I know that I can always help you escape but… I'm afraid of the consequence that you or I will receive from Barret and the others… and I don't want to stress them anymore, especially Cloud, because he is so concerned with Aerith right now… and when Sephiroth said that he'd kill you… I… I…" she stammered.

He embraced her tightly as he took a deep breath and then released it as he turned themselves over, with Tifa now underneath him. "Stop thinking about Sephiroth and the others. What matters is that you are safe and you are happy that Aerith is safe too." He told her gently as he caressed her cheek.

She just nodded before embracing him and then gave him a kiss on the lips. "But if my shift here in guarding you is over tomorrow, I will have to tie you onto the bed again so that they wouldn't suspect anything." She told him.

He smiled slyly at her, "Can't you do it now?" he asked playfully.

She chuckled lightly. "No. I want you to hold me close." She told him softly before she started to kiss him passionately again.

------------------------------------------------------------ 

Author's notes: …to be continued *nyahahahahaha*  I'll try to find time to update this, but right now (and maybe up to the first week of March), this could be put on a temporary hiatus because I am memorizing lines for our play. ;_; So please bear… ^^' *sniff*


	5. 5

You Are Going to Die

By: General Quistis

Author's Notes: It's a miracle!!! @o@' I'm able to update this… for now, I guess… but anyway… I can feel hell week fast-approaching … and then… never mind. 

You're wondering; I rated this R… while some of you might think that there's really nothing that could be rated R in this work, well, for me it is (I mean considering the young and innocent minds of some of the readers…); I'm not really _that _prude…but anyway…read on. But there will be something here in the near future about Sephiroth that……. *covers mouth and looks away* In the meantime, just proceed. ;) I won't be spoiling the fun here.

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Five

            Sephiroth still could not believe that he realized that he really trusted Rufus in the first place. Now he felt like the whole world should really perish.

He is around ten years older than Rufus, but he had known the ShinRa Brat ever since that brat's childhood. Rufus was never allowed to meet him or even talk to him for a reason that they could not even understand, but they somewhat had this friendship with a certain trust that no one else could understand…

And at present, Sephiroth could not believe that Rufus had to break that bond because he fell in-love with an enemy. "Damn that bitch. I'm going to get rid of her…" he muttered angrily as he swung the blade of his Masamune across a big tree, cutting it down in one swift motion. He fell on his knees and watched with wide eyes as the tree fell to the ground. A lot of birds fled from the place and he watched all of them fly away to the skies…

With that, he bowed down his head and closed his eyes for a while, feeling the cold early morning breeze blowing through his hair.

And he smiled rather evilly. "What am I doing here? I'm supposed to be after my goal…" he chuckled lightly as he slowly got up with a demented smile on his face as he looked straight towards the sun. "All must die… Aerith… Tifa… everyone… and Rufus… and finally, Cloud…" he muttered under his breath.

            Rufus slowly opened his eyes and he shivered. The room was awfully cold. He had expected himself to be tied down to the bed again, but he was not. He was still free…

The events slowly began to unfold in his mind, reminding him of everything that happened in the past 24 hours… 

Tifa.

His eyes widened as he immediately sat up. He was looking for her.

Tifa instantly turned to him when she heard him move. She was just standing by the window and looking outside. His blue eyes were wide in awe upon seeing her there dressed in her usual clothes, but she was not wearing her boots and elbow guard and she was hugging herself.

She blinked. "What's wrong?" she asked curiously as she approached him and sat down on the bed beside him.

He was not able to answer. He did not know how to tell her what was really going on in his mind. She noticed that he was really cold, so she got his turtleneck and helped him put it on. "You'd better get dressed now, Rufus. I couldn't put your clothes back on while you were sleeping because I might wake you up." She said sweetly with a somewhat embarrassed look on her face. He just turned away from her.

"So… what made you get up like that? Did you have a nightmare?" she asked gently.

He shook his head and raked his fingers through his hair. "N…no, Tifa… I just… thought that you left me…" he admitted rather weakly.

She felt her heart sink and her eyes slightly widened upon hearing those words from him. Shouldn't she be the one thinking about that? She just smiled rather sadly and embraced him tightly. He returned her embrace immediately as he sighed against her neck. Neither spoke a single word.

They froze when they heard the door slowly creaking open. They were not able to move from their position as their eyes widened. "Oh my God…" Tifa thought in panic, thinking that if that was Barret or Cid, she would already die…

"Tifa?"

Tifa slowly let go of Rufus as she turned to the door. They were both stunned to see Aerith standing there with a gentle smile on her face… and behind her were Cloud, Red XIII and Vincent.

That was when they all realized that tears were streaming down Tifa's face.

"Wh…what are you doing here?" Tifa asked as she wiped her tears away. She just realized that she was already crying.

Cloud stepped forward with a serious look on his face, "We're leaving." He told them.

Silence.

"Leaving?" Tifa asked rather weakly.

"Let's go before Barret and the others find out." He told her, then turned to Rufus. "That goes the same to you," he said.

Rufus blinked, staring in perplexity at Cloud.

"But… wh… why?" Tifa asked.

"Stop asking questions and let's go before Barret wakes up." Cloud instructed. "We'll meet you in the lobby." And he left with Aerith and Vincent.

Tifa rushed to the door and closed it before turning to face Rufus again with a smile of relief on her face. "Isn't it wonderful, Rufus?" she asked before she ran back to him, dived onto the bed, surprising him. She was laughing gaily as she embraced him again. 

He eased up a bit before he held her closer to himself and smiled calmly at her. "Let's go,"

            "We're not staying in one place. We'll be in danger if we do so, that's why we've decided to just leave. Barret did not approve of the idea because he still would not trust you… especially Cid. But don't mind him; they're really like that. Be glad that we're agreeing to help you out with Sephiroth." Cloud told Rufus the moment they got inside a ship heading for Midgar.

It was going to be a long trip, but they were prepared. They could not take the plane so they had to ride a ship… but for a change, they were in first class so that no one would suspect them. They even had to use weird accents as they spoke to the person in the ticket booth while purchasing first class tickets and then charging it all in Rufus's account.

Rufus was the only one who did not fake his identity and his accent. He just told the guards that AVALANCHE kidnapping him was just a rumor and that he was just trying to get a decent vacation without the rest of ShinRa bothering him. He even introduced his "companions" as part of his family: Cloud as his older brother, Aerith as his sister-in-law, Tifa as his wife, Red XIII as Cloud and Aerith's pet, and Vincent as Tifa's older brother.

They got away with it easily… after all, Rufus is a good actor.

The boys stayed together in one lounge while Tifa and Aerith stayed in the tearoom, catching up with each other's lives… even though Tifa really wanted to stay with Rufus.

"It's really nice to get out of that cold place. I think I'm going to catch cold already…" Tifa told Aerith as she drank her hot tea.

Aerith smiled sweetly at her. "I still couldn't thank Rufus enough for what he has done… if it wasn't for him, I'd be dead by now… and Cloud would be alone… I don't want Cloud to be sad…" she said with a worried look on her face.

"Don't worry, Aerith. We'll do our best to protect you from Sephiroth." Tifa reassured.

Aerith frowned slightly as she looked outside the window and saw some icebergs. "But why do I have this feeling that… all of us, not just me, are in real danger?" she thought silently, not really wishing to broadcast her thoughts to Tifa. Her best friend had been too worried for the past few days already and suggesting unpleasant thoughts to her would not really help to calm her down even though Rufus is with them in the trip. "Well… let's just watch out and help one another so that it will all be fair…" was all she said.

            "This is so pathetic! It's like looking for a needle in a haystack!" Reno complained with a frustrated look on his face as he plopped down on the couch inside the Turks' Lounge in ShinRa HQ.

Elena sighed heavily. They all spent the whole morning roaming around Midgar just searching for the whereabouts of AVALANCHE. After giving up, they proceeded back to the ShinRa HQ to rest for a while before resuming their search after lunch. "What if they're not really in Midgar right now… I mean, the last time we saw them, they were heading to…"

"Don't tell me we're going back there?" Reno asked with an airy look.

"It's the only way, Reno." Elena pointed out.

Rude cleared his throat, making the two of his remaining Turk companions to turn and look at him, "It is so strange that President Rufus was just captured by AVALANCHE… and that phone call… He sounded the same." He pointed out.

"What the hell, I can't even understand why he didn't fight back when AVALANCHE got him!" Reno snapped.

"What if he wasn't kidnapped at all… and he just joined them?" Rude pointed out.

They all fell silent, not knowing what to say.

"I pointed that out to General Heidegger, guess what he did," Reno muttered.

No one replied.

But they knew. 

They got salary deductions. The fat general was too stubborn. He thought that what the Turks thought was too ridiculous, so they just shut up and pretended to be interested in following all of his orders.

"So what are we going to do now?" Elena asked.

"Let's have our lunch first before we try to figure out what to do." Reno muttered miserably before he got up and led the way to the cafeteria.

***

            Rufus just stayed in his quarters, trying to think of something about Sephiroth. "What does he want anyway? Surely it's not just Cloud's life… but…" he trailed off when he felt somewhat suspicious, "What if he also wants Tifa?" he thought silently.

He turned to the sleeping young lady on his bed as he remained standing by the study desk. He turned to the clock and it read 12:00 midnight.

He does not feel tired yet.

"What's making him do all of this?" Rufus thought silently before turning to the window. He stared at it for a few moments before he slowly got up and decided to get a drink. Opening the mini bar inside the small fridge, he got a small bottle of vodka and then a shot glass. While he was opening it, he thought he heard someone knocking on the door. Frowning, he closed the fridge and placed the small bottle and the shot glass on top of the coffee table and then went straight to the door with grunt. He slowly opened it, surprised to see Vincent standing there with a frantic look in his eyes, though his facial expression was still solemn. "Vincent," Rufus began.

"May I come in?" Vincent asked.

Rufus looked back inside the room and observed the sleeping Tifa before turning back to Vincent. "Let's just talk by the deck." He said.

"No. Not the deck. I don't want anybody seeing us." Vincent said with a frown on his face. He looked too worried about something.

Rufus thought for a while before he stepped outside, shut the door, and led the way to the lounge at the end of the hallway of the first class rooms. When they got there, he immediately turned to Vincent, "What?" he asked.

"Sephiroth is here." Vincent told him.

Rufus's eyes slightly widened. "How did you know?" he asked.

Vincent shook his head rather hesitantly, "I'm not really sure… but… I felt him." He replied rather weakly.

Rufus raised an eyebrow. "You _felt_ him?" he asked probingly.

Vincent was just quiet.

Rufus was fighting the urge to laugh mockingly at him. "Alright, how did you feel him?" he asked.

"He… did something… I'm not sure how to describe it but…" Vincent began, but Rufus cut him off, "You are just imagining things. Sephiroth cannot find us." 

"You don't know him very well, do you? He can do whatever he pleases and he can show up unexpectedly in places that you did not even expect him to show up. He's just here." Vincent pointed out; but Rufus just shook his head in disbelief before he walked away. "You need some sleep, Vincent." He told him before walking away.

Vincent went after him, "Rufus," he began.

"What?" Rufus asked.

"Once we get back to Midgar, what are we going to do?" Vincent asked.

"I'll take you guys to ShinRa and you'll all stay there with me." Rufus answered stiffly.

"How can we be so sure that this is not a trap set by you and Sephiroth?" Vincent asked.

Rufus stopped walking and turned to him with a look of perplexity on his face, "I beg your pardon?" he demanded.

"You once made deals with him. What if this is still part of a deal?" Vincent asked with a serious but probing look on his face.

Rufus just stared back at him with inquiring eyes. "I wonder what got into you and made you think that ShinRa should not be trusted." He said.

"I've been through a lot, Rufus…" Vincent began.

"Yes, that's what they always say. ShinRa's to blame. But I'm trying to be different from the past, alright? Be thankful that a former enemy has taken the rebel's side already." Rufus said with a stiff look on his face before he turned and walked away.

Vincent watched as he entered his own room again. Sighing, he looked down to the ground. "That's not it, Rufus… there really is something wrong… not with you… but with Sephiroth…" he thought silently before he turned back to his own room with a worried look in his eyes. As he stepped inside, he stared into the darkness of it as he shut the door. The room felt so cold for a reason that he could not even understand. He shivered slightly, "It's all in the mind…" he thought to himself as he proceeded to his bed, but just sat down while he continued to stare into the darkness before him. His eyes widened when he felt two hands touching his back, sliding up his shoulders and then down to his chest. He shivered slightly at the touch, feeling it to be so achingly familiar. "Lucrecia?" he asked softly with a solemn look on his face, even though a part of him does not want to believe in it. Who knows, he could just be dreaming.

But the breath was so real as it hit the side of his neck. "Shh…" the voice hushed him gently.

Vincent was stunned. "Am I dreaming?" he asked out loud.

"Shhh…" the voice hushed him again. The next thing that Vincent felt was a hand touching his chin and turning his head to the side… and a tongue licked his lips which made his eyes widen in surprise. Vincent was about to move away, but the person pulled him closer and started kissing him and then wrapped its arms around him…

*** 

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Author's Note: ahahahahaha….. I think I ate too much noodles for lunch… and the noodles have MSG in it… so I'm coming up with a headache again… and so I'll just continue this some other time after the headache is gone. Feh. -.-'


End file.
